-= Li'l Red =-

#Lil-Red

Part 1
Li'l Red 1 (atltf.com)



One project complete.  Time for another.

Teardown has begun...



Phase 1 is to tear it down to frame and start from the ground up.

That's kinda neat looking actually, big ol' oppy just sitting there. I'd slap a seat and a steering shaft on it and give 'er hell, hahaha.

It does look neat, but it also goes to show how little the frame is too.  Just a little over 11" wide.

I'm a bit anxious... but I would really like to chop the rear fender pan to lower it about 3" inches.  Then mod the seat bracket to lower the seat another inch or so.  I fear doing any welding on the pan as I feel I will just melt it due to the thinness of the metal.  My welder is not working quite as it should in power or I don't know how to use it properly just yet.  Latter is probably the case.  We'll see how it goes.

MightyRaze wrote:

It does look neat, but it also goes to show how little the frame is too.  Just a little over 11" wide.

I'm a bit anxious... but I would really like to chop the rear fender pan to lower it about 3" inches.  Then mod the seat bracket to lower the seat another inch or so.  I fear doing any welding on the pan as I feel I will just melt it due to the thinness of the metal.  My welder is not working quite as it should in power or I don't know how to use it properly just yet.  Latter is probably the case.  We'll see how it goes.

Oh yeah, when I put an AYP brush guard on mine, that's when I realized how small it was.

Chop the fenders eh? That'd be pretty hard on a Widebody, but anything's possible...

Don't worry about the welding, I went by the fab shop yesterday and they had welded a cover on the old deck lift cut out and it turned out just fine, not to mention a few other things concerning the body that happened a little earlier. I don't think you'll have much of a problem there.

Mighty's using an old Arc welder though, not a wire feed unit. Little more difficult with the thinner steel.

I may not do it and come up with another way to lower center of gravity.

Ground zero...

Where to go from here..  






I think i will be able to reuse the front axle.  It is much heavier than I thought it would be.  Few welds here and there will make it pretty sturdy!

Yep, that axle should be fine. You'll definitely need to modify it in some way but I'm sure it'll work out!

Yeah my parents MTD uses the same style but not near as strong or thick of metal as this.  I'm pretty pleased with that.

• First thing is to give the frame a good bath...
  
• Then I am going to weld the seams in the rear up.
  
• I might need some materials as I am going to extend the front out a good foot give or take a few inches.
  

I'll probably do like @AllisKidD21 did on his build-off rat rod and start from the back and work my way forward.

I am really wishy-washy about chopping up the fenderpan on this thing.  I think I will lower it in the rear with a smaller tire.  I have a couple out back, if they are not rotten, that would work good. (3-4 inch drop)  I thought the tires on it now would be good, but they turned out to be not so great, also the rubber on them is really HARD.  They are wearing down pretty quick.

I remember you telling us about how bad those tires ended up being.

You might’ve already said, but how are you planning on beefing up the frame on this one?

Probably some rebar x bracing.  My father in law I think has some angle.  If I can have it, I may run along the bottom of the frame with it where I can.  Just have to go around the clutch pedal.  Not completely sure at the moment.  Also, welding the seams in the corners too.

AYE!... uh..  Not like I planned.  I wanted to lower... but..  Hmm.  That may be too much.

Yikes.

Further inspecting things... found that BOTH my clutch pulleys are bad.  My engine pulley was put together with my old worthless welder so the welds are very iffy.  Just realized last Friday was 3 years since I started the Li'l Red build.  



It was also the reason I quit being a lurker (of a few years) and a contributor to ATLTF 3 Years ago TODAY!!

Woot! Woot!

What size are those new tires? I think everyone at haspin pretty much runs 18 or 18.5 inch tall.

I never knew you were a lurker! Funny you mention that after the open topic thread haha

They are 18x9.5. The ones I have on it are 22x11. Yeah I'd been following atltf since fearless use to control and post regularly. I just wasn't a member at the time because my work blocked half the site. Then after about a year and a half to two years I got Red and a couple days later I formally joined.

Gotcha.

Yeah those 18s would be just fine. I feel like I should correct my statement above, all the “mowron style” tractors run 18 inch tires. There are exceptions like offroadohio’s sears, creepycrawlers wheel horse, redzz02’s mud dynamark, Doug’s Murray, and of course your Kal-El.

I sat out in the garage this morning and studied it for a few minutes and decided not to use the 18s. I'll save them for my daughter's tractor next year. I'll continue on with the 22s until some nice 20x11's show up.   ...And I have a few more $$'s.

I have most of the frame refreshed now. I'm at a stalemate. Should I get it the fenders on and dash so I can figure out how placement with new front or go ahead with the front suspension while stuff is out of the way and figure out hood later. Hmm... I may just set them down for measuring. Then do front without all the stuff in the way.

I think I am overthinking it. I did weld a nut on a broken bolt to get it out. Lol

Well, I'd wait on AK for that type information!

HAHA....

I did do a little playing around after sweeping under the frame tonight.  Cleaned lots of dirt and oil. 

Doesn't look bad...







I did get the clutch pulleys changed out.  Bearings were shot on both.  The black original pulley is still fine amazingly.



I also did some playing around between the 6013 and 6011 rods earlier turning down the amps on the welder.  (I think, set it for 3/16 sheet)  I didn't have too much issue with the 6013. Amazingly I didn't burn through the thin metal of the frame.  The 6011 was another story.  I think I could use it, but the stuff goes off like a stinking sparkler.  I also burned through the frame easy, luckily a small hole and in a non-issue location.  I think I will "stick" with my 6013 unless I have no choice.

oh...

I will be welding that steering plate to the frame for support as well as welding down the engine plate.

MightyRaze wrote:

oh...

I will be welding that steering plate to the frame for support as well as welding down the engine plate.

Exactly what I was about to ask! Seems like a good way to add strength without using any scrap metal! But while it's all apart and you can turn the frame any way you want, I'd recommend whipping out the sawzall and doing this:



REALLY helps with space!

Murraymountain wrote:

Exactly what I was about to ask! Seems like a good way to add strength without using any scrap metal! But while it's all apart and you can turn the frame any way you want, I'd recommend whipping out the sawzall and doing this:



REALLY helps with space!

LOL did that long time ago...

Just a little cleaner about it.  Cut it with plenty of room but not loose belt guide locations and still give a little more frame integrity.





Like I mentioned last night I was totally overthinking it... I can just set the tower on the frame and sit the hood on that for measuring.  No bigs.  LOL